Blog 6: Language and Power Project Ideas

I, a Humanities major with an emphasis in CES (Comparative Ethnic Studies), critical race theory and history, was really excited knowing we had a project with the topic of language and power [a list of three appositives, set off with commas to describe myself and my major’s specialties].  Being comfortable and feeling ease, it was nice to know that in a class that is out of my region, there is a section that I feel like I can really do my own thing [two back-to-back present-participle phrases; the participles work well here, since they reflect my constant state of action through the process of this project]. I have always found it interesting that language has such a stronghold of power and can influence all of society and alternate cultures to fit another. I would like to research how Standard English has power and why it is, specifically within the educational institution.  I want to know why it takes form in power and influences such an assimilation process and whom it affects as it does. I believe this is a relevant topic for every future educator because educators are at the forefront of that influence whether they know it or not.

As we did the Tea Party exercise, I got really excited and also frustrated. I got excited because I love hearing other people’s stories. As a future educator, I want to be able to fix the problem or to eliminate ways that the problem can come into my own classroom so that history doesn’t repeat itself. I did get frustrated putting myself in other people’s shoes because I was hearing true stories of how language and violence was used as power to eliminate tradition and cultures. I saw potential for the future and I was upset that if oppression of language is still in affect…is this really the world I want to live in. And so I thought, yes. Yes because I would like to educate my students on the power they hold and how they can use that power for good or bad.

This research project, even though it is shorter than what I am used to, I have a lot of ways to thrive through this topic. Mainly because I am in a classroom full of future educators-there are ways my research can assist my peers. As we all will be educators, I think the whole class would benefit from having research done by a peer so that they have some connection towards this issue instead of re-reading articles (even though I love them myself). There are ways to know what institutional influence has on our teaching and it is importance to develop knowledge on what it looks like. Standard English and units of grammar (for example) has dominant effect in the classroom yet has no reason to overpower someone else's language. It is important to acknowledge how it happens so that it’s easier to eliminate the problem that was set when we were in school and even when our parents and grandparents were in school.

Here is a bit of an outline for my paper and research:

·      Introduction:

o   Thesis

§  Still working on it**

·      Paragraph one:

o   Historical introduction with a story

§  Use one of the Tea Party stories and connect it to historical context of the issue

·      Paragraph two:

o   What issues come up within the educational institution that should be addressed

§  Use article to identify issues

·      Paragraph three:

o   How to address the issue of Standard English in the classroom to eliminate oppression and assimilation of other cultures and languages.

§  Use articles to determine how to do so

I experimented with the patterns I used because I have never really purposely put them into my writing, and I barely never put them in my writing without thinking about it.  I think I incorporated it well, maybe not 100% correct but I did my best J. I would like to experiment with it more because I really like how it changes up written work. I would just like to know if I did it somewhat correctly.